The Weak Cannot Survive
"What the hell do you mean there's no problem, you fucking bastards!!!"
A student who had somehow shaken off his fear suddenly screamed at us. The intense rage seemed to have momentarily erased his terror.
"Why are you shooting at someone else's phone!!!"
"Hye-ji followed the rules, so what's your problem? Are you feeling sick or something?"
"Want me to shoot again? Fine."
- Bang!
Hye-ji's gun spat out another round. Two fresh bullet holes now marred the phone.
"That's not what I meant, you goddamn bastards!!!"
"Hye-ji, maybe the holes are too small."
"Got it."
- Bang!!!!!!!
This time Hye-ji manifested a massive anti-materiel sniper rifle and pulled the trigger. The .50 caliber round punched straight through the phone, shattering it into countless fragments. Hye-ji wore a gloomy expression, clearly disappointed.
"Shinu, what do we do? It's gone."
"We'll just wait for the next chance."
"Okay!"
"I'm going to kill you!!!"
The blond student, having lost his mind at the sight of his destroyed phone, charged straight at us. Since it looked like he was heading for Hye-ji, I casually stepped aside.
"......Why are you coming after me?"
He suddenly changed direction and rushed toward me instead. Even with his reason gone, the blond student instinctively chose the safer target—attacking me rather than Hye-ji.
At that moment—
- Bang! Bang!
Two gunshots rang out.
"Gold earrings and gold necklace secured!"
"Bring the gold ring and gold bracelet too."
It was none other than Elsia and Ayeon. They had apparently received guns from Hye-ji at some point and were now aiming shotguns at the blond student. Considerately, they had loaded them with rock salt rounds. The intense shock to his entire body was enough to snap the blond student back to his senses.
Just as the now-clear-headed student tried to speak in a panic—
"Wait! Fuck, just hold on a sec—"
- Bang!
Hye-ji cut him off with another gunshot. Naturally, this one was live ammunition.
"Hand over the gold watch, you piece of shit."
The watch strap was neatly severed, and the timepiece dropped to the ground with a dull thud. At the sound, the blond student sank to the floor, mouth hanging open in a daze.
Elsia beamed at the sight.
"He's even got a few gold teeth!"
"Nice eye. Good job, Elsia."
As expected, Elsia was the best at spotting anything that could be turned into money. I patted her head for noticing something we might have missed, and her face melted into pure bliss.
Caersi watched with a disgusted expression and muttered,
"......You guys are fucking insane."
[Bastards.]
Piece's voice chimed in as well.
***
After the blond student regained his composure, several things had changed.
First, his appearance. Everything gold on him except his teeth had been stripped away. Now the only gold left was in his front teeth and hair. Compared to before, he no longer sparkled—he had gone from a golden goblin to just a regular goblin.
Next, his explanation had become far more detailed.
"You must only use the provided firearms to knock them down! Do you understand!!!"
"Yeah."
"Of course!"
"Understood."
He seemed to have learned his lesson from the earlier incident caused by his vague rules. This time he personally handed out the guns one by one, emphasizing the conditions repeatedly. His eyes burned with determination to recover his losses through this shooting game.
"So we just have to knock them down using the guns, right?"
"Yes! You must only use the firearms!"
At that moment, the number above the blond student's head suddenly increased. He immediately shouted in alarm.
"Using physical force to take someone's belongings is now against the rules!!!"
"Tch! What a shame!"
Elsia clicked her tongue and lowered the gun she had been aiming at the blond student's mouth. Apparently the gold teeth were still tempting her. The blond student had quickly added the new rule after experiencing a future where Elsia shot him.
He had even written the rules in huge letters and set up a signboard, just in case anyone forgot.
"Anyway, those are all the rules!"
"You're sure about that, right? No changing them later!"
"There will be absolutely no changes, so please enjoy the game!"
"Got it!"
Elsia repeatedly confirmed that the rules wouldn't change. The blond student, now smiling again under the assumption that no more violence would occur, moved on.
The final change was—
"Why the fuck do I have to participate?"
"At least have some conscience and join in!!!"
While the blond student was being robbed of his gold, he had desperately appealed to Caersi's emotions. Moved by his pleas, Caersi forced me to participate as well.
'Damn it, my hard-earned money.'
[Your aim is trash, so this is going to be a disaster.]
Even as mentioned earlier, the entry fee wasn't cheap. Considering the listed prizes were all high-value items, it made sense, but it was still ridiculously expensive for a mere challenge fee.
Anyway, each of us was given one crude air rifle. We had to squeeze as much profit as possible out of them. Taking just one prize per person would break even, but naturally we wanted as many as we could get.
"Shinu, trust me."
Hye-ji stepped up first. She skillfully loaded plastic pellets into the air rifle and fired immediately. Her target was the smallest item on display—an iPhone box.
The pellet definitely hit the box.
However—
- Tick.
"......What the fuck?"
It had no effect whatsoever. Only a faint impact sound echoed when the plastic pellet touched the prize. The iPhone box didn't move an inch.
"You bastard! This thing's defective!"
"Defective? Why are you blaming me for your poor aim?"
"You're dead."
The blond student sneered at Hye-ji. In response, she lined up multiple air rifles loaded with plastic pellets. She fired one after another in rapid succession.
Yet—
"I hit the exact same spot every single time, so why the hell isn't it moving!!!"
"If you're upset, feel free to try again. Thank you for your patronage, dear customer."
Still no effect. Even though Hye-ji had struck the exact same edge of the iPhone box with godlike precision, it remained completely motionless—just like the first shot. The pellets were simply too weak.
Thus, Hye-ji exhausted all her attempts. Grinding her teeth, she stepped aside as Ayeon took her place.
"This time, I shall demonstrate my true skill."
Ayeon lined up air rifles loaded with plastic pellets, just like Hye-ji had done. The difference was that she summoned multiple familiars and handed each one a rifle.
A single gunshot rang out.
Multiple pellets flew simultaneously, all aimed at a single prize. Ayeon's plan was to knock down one item through concentrated fire.
However—
"This makes no sense!!!"
Still no effect. Even though everything hit the same spot at once, the prize didn't budge. It seemed the pellets weren't just weak—the items themselves were fixed in place somehow.
The blond student grinned widely at the furious Ayeon.
"You should try a little harder. With skills like that, how do you expect to win any prizes?"
Ayeon's turn ended just as fruitlessly. As she stepped back dejectedly, Elsia stepped forward.
Elsia also lined up air rifles loaded with plastic pellets, just like the others. Seeing this, the blond student began openly mocking her.
"Pfft! You're not going to win anything anyway, so why bother?"
"Yes! I'm going to try!"
Elsia smiled brightly as she picked up one of the rifles. Then she suddenly asked the blond student a question.
"I just need to knock it down by hitting it with the gun, right?"
"Yes, yes. That's what I said. Go ahead and try if you can."
"Understood!"
The blond student didn't even bother looking at Elsia anymore, casually counting cash at the payment machine while giving a half-hearted reply. There was no card reader—only cash was accepted. The thick stack of bills suggested he had already fleeced plenty of others.
[He looked a little pitiful earlier, but now I don't feel sorry for him at all.]
'That's just how the world of competition works.'
At my answer, Piece sounded puzzled.
[You're accepting this far too easily. You might just end up losing all your money.]
'That won't happen. That bastard made a mistake.'
Just as I said, the blond student had made two fatal errors. Proving his own stupidity, he had confidently declared the rules wouldn't change despite the obvious loopholes. If he had any brains, he would have made the rules far more airtight.
And—
"Here I go!!!"
"Yeah~. Yeah~. Just pay up again. You're not taking anything home anyway~."
He had forgotten that Elsia was an insane existence who defied common sense.
At that moment, Elsia finished her preparations and launched her attack.
What she launched wasn't a pellet.
"Hah!!!"
- Thud!!!!
It was the air rifle itself.
The flying rifle slammed into a prize, crushing the box and sending both it and a massive game console crashing to the floor.
"......Huh?"
The blond student, who had been smiling while counting money, finally turned his head at the unexpected sound. His face froze in a stiff grin as he took in the situation.
Then came the immediate scream.
"You crazy bitch!!!! What the hell are you doing!!!"
"You said I just needed to knock it down by hitting it with the gun! I hit it!"
"Use common sense and shoot it with the gun!!!"
Elsia shot back with a sneer of her own.
"You should have used common sense when writing the rules!!!"
"W-Wait!!!"
- Crack!!!
Another prize was half-destroyed by Elsia's thrown rifle and fell to the ground.
It was Elsia's turn.